Tiger Finally Lifts Burden

So many thought it would be another staged situation like a press conference with friends and family or two interviews with a strict time limit.

Here it would only be golf reporters, who would be scared to ask questions and anything remotely revealing would be put down with "that's private" or "I've answered that already."

But that's not what happened at today's news conference at Augusta National.

The golf reporters brought it and Tiger, as much as we could have possibly imagined, stepped up to the plate.

Unlike his televised prepared statement in February that he got ripped for, he was as human as we've ever seen. And he was willing to get to the facts, only really dodging exactly what type of rehab he was in.

He admitted to having a busted up lip and a sore neck the night of the accident. He admitted to using Vicodin for pain for previously undisclosed Achilles injuries and Ambien around the time his father was dying.

He actually used words of contrition similar to his February news conference, but this time he looked reporters in the eyes and constructed his own sentences.

For the golf reporters, his connection to Dr. Anthony Galea, is not a shut door, even though Woods insisted that the doctor that is being investigated for potentially providing athletes with performancing enhancing drugs was only giving him platement rich plasma therapy.

But for the gossip reporters, there's not a lot left after this press conference that can push Tiger any lower than where he is now.

It took this long because Tiger said he needed this time and maybe he did.

If he once again becomes the best golfer in the world again, the public relations gurus who said that this time lapse was killing Woods' potential to recover as a corporate spokesman will be silenced.

If he doesn't return to his form, it's not the time he took to apologize that will make him less popular, it will be his lack of wins. (You can see more of the news conference and recap here.)